Strategic Self-Fashioning and Coded Resistance

Sor Juana navigated colonial Mexico by mastering its dominant discourse—Latin, theology, courtly verse—while embedding subversive critiques within that very language. Her use of irony, allegory, and religious authority as cover for feminist and intellectual challenges demonstrates coded resistance as a survival tool. Postcolonial decolonization employs similar strategies: working within dominant systems while subtly undermining them, using colonizers' own languages and forms against their hegemony. This concept recognizes that resistance isn't always direct confrontation but rather strategic positioning—maintaining intellectual and cultural integrity while appearing to comply. It acknowledges power asymmetries while affirming agency and the creative power of the marginalized to manipulate meaning within constrained spaces.